Marcus Tay will share the NUS recycling experience where they employ the understanding of human tendancies to tackle recycling contamination - the first step of a series of improvements that results in a increase of recycling amount from about 80 tonnes a year previously to about 120 tonnes in just 7 months. He will go on to show how to employ the same strategies to attract viewership in emails to the entire school. This is a presentation at GreenDrinks SIngapore at Jun 10

1. Using Human Psychology to influence recycling and green habits June 2010 Marcus Tay Guan Hock

2. Contents Part 1 : Proven to work public recycling bins techniques Part 2: Uncharted waters – applying human social psychology to mass emails Part 3: Discussion – My personal thoughts on what I want to focus on as an environmentalist

3. Let’s Imagine

4. IMAGINE: You are done with a fruit juice plastic cup:

5. And you see the following recycling bins: What would you do?

6. Did you recycle correctly? National Environment Agency (NEA) spokesman : throwing waste such as leftover food and drinks into the bins contaminates the recyclable materials and renders them non-recyclable. RECYCLING CONTAMINATION

7. Did you recycle correctly? NEA URL on Brochure for recyclables: http://app2.nea.gov.sg/data/cmsresource/20100120281853527479.pdf

8. How serious is contamination of recycling bins? NEA: About one-fifth of all waste deposited in recycling bins could not be recycled.

9. KK Hospital Recycling bins in June 2009 – Plastic containers only

11. Users just need to be educated …Straits Times Discussion Board Replies to the article: “Maybe a public campaign should be launched to educate the public on how to use the recyclable bins.….”

12. EDUCATION!EDUCATION!!EDUCATION!!! BUT HOW TO EDUCATE?

13. Singapore national recycling vs. contamination?

14. Recycling well labelled? “Recycling bins are clearly labelled with the materials that can be placed in them.” Singapore Environment Coucil replyto the article

15. Not really… Another Straits Times Discussion Board Reply:“… I for one, was surprised to read from the papers that cardboards that hold food cannot be recycled,cos now I am guilty of throwing my pizza box into the recycle bin.” Need to move beyond just labeling paper, plastic into labeling types of paper and plastic accepted.

16. NUS Recycling Story. Our success and techniques

17. Contamination in NUS (Before Nov 2008)

18. Results in Jan/Feb 09 Level of contamination dropped drastically. Not perfect

19. Vital Behaviours in tackling recycling contamination At the point of throwing, help people to decide if it can be recycled 2. Give people an option to not throw into the recycling bin if it cannot be recycled.

20. VB1:Recyclable at the point of throwing ? Common recycling bins in Singapore only label “Paper, plastic, cans”

21. Recyclable at the point of throwing ? Need to move beyond just labeling paper, plastic into labeling types of paper and plastic that are accepted.

22. Recyclable at the point of throwing ? V.S Poster on Noticeboards Email circular Presentations during lectures

23. Recyclable at the point of throwing ? Instructions right at the point of throwing

24. Recyclable at the point of throwing ? Expect Error from User = Specific about what to throw Reference:“Nudge – Improving Decisions about Health, wealth and Happiness” For prompts to be effective, they need to be presented as close in time and space as possible to the targeted behaviour… Reference: McKenzie-Mohr, D., & Smith, W. (1999). Fostering sustainable behavior: An introduction to community-based social marketing (2nd ed.)

25. Jurong Bird Park doing so as well – May 2010

26. VB2: Option not throw into the recycling bin if it cannot be recycled. Expect less from good human behaviour Partner trash bins with recycling bins

27. Other measures

28. Engage the Housekeepers

29. Education Campaigns Email circular Message of the Day (MOTD) Presentations during lectures

30. Efforts of Oct 2008 to Feb 2009 No complaints yet from Veolia since Aug 2009?

31. Caveat Measures were already halfway through implementation by the time I join. Gave it a psychological basis or reason. Isolate measures to “measure” effectiveness. Applied psychological tendencies for future measures.

32. Other lessons in bin design Poka Yoke(Mistake Proofing) is the way to go

33. Colour scheme of Trash bins Green Trash Bin vsGreen Bottles Recycling Bins These 2 bins should not be placed side by side

34. Solution: Different colour for trash bins Colour scheme of Trash bins – Grey Bins Gradually replace current green trash bins with bluish grey ones over time

36. No need to remind housekeepers to have round recycling bins all facing frontV.S

37. Black labels to make up for vertical wordings

38. Proposed new bins Horizontal words ( move higher) Straight sides prevent turning Instructive description: “Non recyclables” vs “Others” or “Trash” “Empty cans, Clean Paper”

39. Posters to align bins for housekeepers

40. Bins Design Tips Summary Expect Error from users/staff Be specific about what can be recycled Make the housekeepers job easier with prompts/poka yoke Timing of education Educate at the point of recycling Expect less from good human behavior Partner trash bins with recycling bins

41. Summary /Questions NEA is pushing for Comingled recycling in future contracts

42. Summary /Questions More recycling bins in IKEA /malls, any data to support that the recyclables are collected?

43. Section 2: Social psychology in mass emails

44. Background Rights to mass email the entire school Measured website traffic through Google Analytics Measurement period: Jan to 4th May 2010 “What you don’t measure , you can’t improve.” Jack Welch( Ex CEO of General Electric)

45. Which of the following 3 has the highest traffic? Joint Advisory on Double – sided print for student submission - Feb 24th 2010 IARU Fellowship/ Sustainability Navigator/ OMG campaign - March 29th 2010 Fellowship = internship OMG campaign = freebies Sustainability Navigator = survey for environmentally concerned individuals I am part of NUS community, Are U? – 23rd April ( Exam Period)

49. Which of the following 3 has the highest traffic? GUESS! Joint Advisory on Double – sided print for student submission - Feb 24th 2010 IARU Fellowship/ Sustainability Navigator/ OMG campaign - March 29th 2010 Fellowship = internship OMG campaign = freebies Sustainability Navigator = survey for environmentally concerned individuals I am part of NUS community, Are U? – 23rd April ( Exam Period)

50. For the period of Feb 8 to May 8

52. Page Views Joint Advisory on Double – sided print for student submission - 864 IARU Fellowship/ Sustainability Navigator/ OMG campaign -1225 Fellowship = internship - 560 OMG campaign = freebies - 415 Sustainability Navigator = survey for environmentally concerned individuals - 250 I am part of NUS community, Are U? – 1068

53. Almost blatant copying

54. People like to do what others do

55. Still pathetic numbers Number of people on mailing list about 50,000 About 4000 people have unsubscribed after offering .

56. Part 3 – Encouraging environmental friendly behaviour My personal thoughts from experience as volunteer, NGO and sadly no corporate

57. They are just not educated/aware Point to the common people for not being educated. Try to convert everyone to a greenie. Main tool: Information campaign. Sometimes for further education for the converts Sometimes preaching to the converts.

58. The world will be a boring place if everyone is greenie My personal way to work: Measure! Use human and social psychology to facilitate influence of human behaviours.

59. Main Inspirations

60. The END Questions?